


sapientia's not-so welcome party

by thisisthenoid



Category: Don't Starve (Video Game)
Genre: Can be seen as pairing, Comfort, Fluff, Hugs, Hyperventilation, Mental Breakdown, dont starve together but its dont shipwreck together, fear of the sea, fic re-do, puns, shipwrecked setting, waking up on an island
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-07 17:31:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14086005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisthenoid/pseuds/thisisthenoid
Summary: lets hope there's no insidious monsters lurking beneath the depths.





	sapientia's not-so welcome party

**Author's Note:**

> original fic: 12/11/2016  
> re-do started: 14/2/2018  
> edit 10/10/2018: edited slightly

he woke up face first in something gritty and irritating, which wasn't a good way to start the day. thoughts were slow to filter into his head, limbs heavy and brain far too hazy to catch up with the presents ticking. it was only when he inhaled a mouthful of the ground that panic flew to the core of his soul, and he rose onto his claws and knees to hold himself above the sickly softness in an instant. he hacked and coughed the grit out of his mouth and forced his eye open, blinking against the harsh light of the world, and the panic deepened into dread once the view evened out. 

 

he was kneeled in a soft mat of glittery gold, with a scenery of palm trees and rocks and tou-cans and weird crab-rabbit things scuttering about the earth before him, and then there was the literal _sea_ to see, surrounding him on all sides in a band of anxiety. if he squinted hard enough into the shimmering ocean, he could spot the odd jellyfish bobbing up and down without a care in the world. a small jungle laid off to the side, viney trees and bamboo bushes strewn within the gnarled land. his entire being was thrown into a whirlwind of every emotion known to man as he drunk in the tropical sight and the tropical sounds and the tropical smells, and after a long while of speculation, he came to the swift conclusion that the situation was very, _very_ bad.

 

the last thing he strained to remember was going to sleep in a tent, surrounded by grass and piney trees and his science experiments, but there was none of that to be had in this new residence. the irritating grain clung to every inch of his being, some of it stuck to his patch and most of it glued to his vest. he'd consciously been in the sand for a matter of seconds, and his loathing for it matched the same burning intensity as the splumonkey's. 

 

his new destination was a sudden anxiety inducing bother, but with the harsh tides of life came reluctant change. he breathed, in and out, the taste of salt in his mouth, and willed himself to calm down. it was easy - all he had to do was relearn how to survive in this new, moist wild, and the first step to survival was to assess the situation further; see what materials were to collect up, and then go from there. it would be no use ruminating on possibilities of the how's and why's when there was work to be done. in fact, a sudden surge of excitement filled his limbs once he'd allowed himself to think it through - he could create _new_ things! boats, protection, fashion, weapons, and the different concoctions of  _food_ he could cook up! this was a fresh new start to his exploration of science, things he'd never thought to create, never had the materials to create, were now at his disposal! the upbeat thoughts flooded his fear away, and he felt giddy with the possibilities. maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all.

 

more than excited to start his new adventure into the wonders of science, he began to climb to his feet, only to be stopped by a drawn out cry from behind. he halted all movements, the whimper reminding him how exhausted he was, all the flight leaving him as fast as it had come. he spun around to face the noise maker, claws curled into fists, and saw a hazy lump sitting hunched in the sand. that was woodie. ... oh. companions. he'd had companions on the other constant. he'd. sort of forgot about them.

 

'... w-woodie?' wilson watched the other closely as his mind caught up to the present again, but the lumberjacks face was scrunched up into an emotion wilson couldn't identify. woodie seemed to ignore the scientist as he kept his eyes locked on the ocean lapping the island, his entire body quivering under its glowering gaze. he looked deathly pale, beads of sweat on his face, his bottom lip as much a wobble as his body. 

 

the scientist crawled over to woodie, dragging lines through the sand. he knelt in front of his vision, but the lumberjack paid little notice to him, keeping his eyes trained past his shoulder to the ocean. wilson's fresh wave of anxiousness was a mirror to woodie's terror. ' ... woodie? are you alright?'

 

'w- ... w-we-'

 

woodie began to hyperventilate. pupils grew small, bullets of sweat trekking his face, and he drew his knees close to his chest, wrapping arms of steel around them. he continued to ignore wilson's presence, watching the ocean shimmer its threats, watching it with downright sickness as it calmly rippled with activity. wilson, who was a man of very little social skills, was at a loss on what to do.

 

'... woodie-'

 

'we're gonna die here,' wilson winced at the shake in his voice. he huddled further into himself, his body a violent tremble. 

 

'hey, d-don't think like that, you're not going to die here-'

 

'i ca-can't swim! i-we-we're gonna _die_ here, in the middle of the _ocean_!' a dam of tears threatened to spill down his face, his face a mix of green and pale all mixed into one, body paralyzed yet trembling. his teeth chattered as he looked everywhere but wilson's way, seeing only sand sand sand- 'i don't want to die here, n-not here, not in the middle of the waters eh, t-that ain't right, it ain't far, it ain't-it ain't-'

 

" _woodie! please, calm down! you're scaring me!_ " something inside of woodie soothed at lucy's voice, if only for a split second.

 

'we're gonna die, lucy,' his voice wasn't his own; it was warbled and scratchy and high with adrenaline and horror. it was the voice of a man who was on the brink of losing what was left of his sound mind. 'we're gonna die, on this island, in the middle of the ocean b-by drowning, i can't swim lucy, ye know i can't swim eh, i-i don't want to be here lucy i want to go home-'

 

" _hey, if we didn't die here, then we would've died in that other place!_ "

 

'but that woulda been on land! _land_ , lucy! th-this ain't land! this is _nowhere_ , eh! even more nowhere than before!! i would rather die in the other place than here!!! this is the middle of the ocean; th-the cruel, never ending, ruthless, unforgivin', _empty_ , **_cold_** -'

 

'woodie!'

 

he was in the zone enough to feel two claws land firmly on his shoulders, and _finally_ , he snapped his stare to wilson like a beaver caught in headlights. he vaguely noticed that wilson's legs were roughly planted on either side of him, and the look of concern etched onto his face was almost blinding. woodie couldn't stop his laboured breathing, and he couldn't calm his beating heart, but in that one moment, he made himself a hazy promise not to look back at the ocean. he was dead set on keeping his view on wilson. he could spot wilson's storm swirling in his eye on how to defuse the situation, but woodie was far too scared to say sorry. they lapsed into a short silence that he despised; the water and the birds and the gentle scuffling across the sand almost suffocated him with their combined loudness.

 

'... now c-come on, you have to breathe, okay?' when it was apparent woodie wouldn't improve on his own, wilson squeezed his shoulders in what he hoped was reassurance. the way woodie stared at him with such an intense burn was unnerving. he was _petrified_. 'keep breathing like that and you'll probably pass out. ... breathe with me, alright? it'll be as easy as ... as chopping a tree! o-okay, in,' wilson took a deep, exaggerated breath in, waiting patiently for woodie to do the same. to the best of his ability, woodie copied. he could taste the salt of the sea in the back of his throat that made him all the more nauseous, but he forced it to the far edges of his mind.

 

they held it for a few before wilson muttered 'and out', and they both exhaled. they continued the breathing exercise, wilson's grip holding steady on the lumberjack as they went through the paces. it felt like a lifetime before woodie's breathing didn't feel as laborious, the ball of worry loosening just a tad, and the iron grip around his knees slowly grew slack. like a balloon, his body deflated with each exhale, adrenaline and dread leaving him, and his head began to feel less stuffy.

 

" _you're doing great, buddy! keep at it!_ " lucy encouraged.

 

'w-woodie, what's my name?' wilson suddenly asked, his brow slanted into a worried frown. at least some of his storm had disappeared.

 

'... wilson.'

 

'okay, and what's your name?'

 

'woodie.'

 

'what's your edgy friend called?'

 

"...  _did he just call me_ edgy _?_ "

 

'lucy.'

 

" _personally i prefer 'sharp'-_ "

 

'and what's your favorite colour?'

 

'yellow.'

 

the questions allowed him to focus on something other than the big salty puddle that surrounded them on every side. the pressures on his shoulders were soft now, and wilson's ease allowed him to come to some sort of terms from their new, forced contracts. it was excruciatingly slow progress, but eventually he felt like he could function again. perhaps after he'd chopped down one of the fancy palm trees, he would feel even less stressed - the "sun" was high in the sky, so the day was still considerably young.

 

'how are you feeling?' wilson asked after he'd run through all the questions he could think of, his eye drooped into that usual tiredness woodie had grown accustomed to.

 

'better.' wilson gave him a warm, overjoyed smile that was usually reserved for his science experiments, and woodie couldn't help but chuckle. 'thanks, wilson. and lucy. thank ye both. felt like i was losin' my head a bit there, eh?'

 

" _hey, we're just glad you're doing better, big guy! scared me half to death, you did!_ "

 

woodie noticed wilson still holding on to his shoulders. it was hard to ignore his legs on either side of him, and it was even harder to ignore the fact that he'd stared into wilson's eye throughout his breakdown. within his black pool, he saw a watered down speck of white.

 

'i'm glad you're feeling alright.' wilson said with a deep sigh. 'i- you scared- i didn't know what to do there, if i'm being bluntly honest, but i'm glad whatever i-we did worked.' wilson finally broke off their gaze, his eye roaming around the island, and woodie could practically see the gears in his head begin to turn as he released woodie's shoulders. 'now i know you don't like this turn of events, but we'll have to make do for now, until we can find a way back to the other place. the other constant. ... other whatever place.' he waved a claw nonchalantly, and he missed how woodie's face turned green again. he spotted parts of a broken up ship a few feet away from them, and woodie was sure he was going to hurl at the mere sight of it, so he refocused his sight on wilson. surly that wasn't the boat they'd come on. he refused to believe it.

 

'y'know, for everything it was, i find the other constant more invitin', eh.'

 

'how did we even _get_ here?' woodie shook his head, not bringing up his theory with the broken boat, and wilson's face scrunched ever further into thought. '... i wonder what happened to everyone else. do you think they're somewhere here too?'

 

'anything's possible in this place. i hope they're all alright.'

 

'as do i. ... oh, there's a jungle over there! i bet that's got all sorts of good stuff to coll-' wilson was cut off when he felt two large arms wrap around his middle, their legs awkwardly pressed together and their chests squashed against each other in a tight embrace. a bushy cheek nuzzled into the right side of the scientists neck. any and all talk wilson wanted to accumulate was gone, replaced for silent gibberish and a heavy tongue. his claws hovered uselessly by woodie's sides, his eye blown wide as he leered straight ahead, a ride of new and confusing emotions attacking him all at once. the hold was tight enough for it to be comfy, leaving a deep flutter of _something_ in the pit of wilson's belly. his cheeks flushed so hot they could explode like a volcano.

 

" _oooooh no woodie i think you broke him,_ " woodie grinned into wilson's neck. his entire body felt like a furnace. " _woodie seriously i don't think he's even breathing._ "

 

woodie patted the middle of his back, leaving one last nuzzle in his neck before he pulled away. he decided not to comment on wilson's face being like a tomato, and with a chuckle, woodie clambered to his feet, brushing himself off as best he could. he wasn't totally at ease with their new environment - he didn't think a relative sense of ease would _ever_ return in such a place - but he sighed. there was nothing they could do about it - at least, not now, but he decided that he had it lucky. he took lucy out of his pocket and hoisted her onto his shoulder with pride, surveying the land without fear in his sweep, and he was pleased to see many trees in his wake. he made it his life's mission to ignore the taunting sea.

 

'right then. come on, eh, wilson? we gotta busy day ahead of us.'

 

" _yeah! lets chop some trees and show this island who the REAL bosses are!_ "

 

'.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. yeah'

 

by the time dusk swooped on them, woodie and lucy had cut down every single tree that had ever made the mistake of growing on the island. and wilson was still slumped over in the sand, still in too much shock to budge.

**Author's Note:**

> the 'wilsaaaan where are you!!!!!!! oh my god ................ HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!' vine is basically this but shittier  
> also i edited this with Dayshift at Freddy's 2 Intro with Vocals (Smash Mouth - All Star) while in a sleep deprived state and im so sorry


End file.
